Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Watch out! Beached whale alert!

It's been a busy week for me (not programs, but general house/kid stuff) so I haven't been birding much. But since Geoff's purging of the closet, I have lots and lots of photos from that fuzzy time I like to call "Pre-Blog"...In honor of Lorelei's upcoming 4th birthday, let's look at the day she was born:January 28, 2004...Mercy Hospital.

Jeez. I forgot how BIG women who are preggers can get. See that smile? I am comfortably anesthetized. I tried, really I did, with both girls, but with Isabelle, in the 38 hours it took to get her out, I would have killed someone without my epidural. Sure, pioneer women did it all the time...but they also beat their clothes on rocks in the crick and died of Typhoid. You can lay in a bed of nails, or a bed of roses.

I was induced for both of my labors, so that gave us the opportunity to plan it so everyone could be there. (My friend Kim, who worked at that hospital, says that the nurses talk about people like me...the ones who have stadium seating in their labor rooms.)

But I don't actually don't know what it feels like to go into labor normally. I wish we could go through our second labor first. The first child has to "pave the way" so to speak...but the second, at least in my experience, is way easier. Lorelei slid out like a peeled grape. I pushed through three contractions, and there she was:

(I will have to dig out the pictures from Isabelle's birth. We both look like we did 9 rounds with a prize fighter...Her, a huge bruise in the shape of my pelvic bone (she was coming out face first) and I looked like I had two black eyes from 10 days of pushing...okay, okay. But it felt like it!)

The proud auntie...Rachel is our Official Labor/Delivery videographer. She was there for both, video camera in hand. She's a trooper.

8 pounds, 5 ounces. And worth every tiny bit of it.

Here's the slightly confused Big Sister...Isabelle was only two when Lorelei was born, so she really didn't know what the heck was going. All she knew was that Mommy got really HUGE. And then she wasn't.

Suddenly, a family of four.

Proud Grand-Swamette.

Proud Mother-of-Susan.

Good grief. I don't look that good NOW.

You know that child slept for 5 hours on her first night? I kept waking up, thinking that she would need me, but she just slept on, with her whispery breathing. I do love that kid.

Click on this link when you are having a bad day and need a giggle

A Glossary for newcomers to the blog:

"Embrace your Inner Sheep": You'll just have to read back a ways for the explanation of that one.

FTS (Also known as F*** the Swainsons): When you just cannot, under any circumstances, get out and look at another bird today. That's it. I don't care what it is. F*** the Swainsons!

The Flock: A group of women (and a few men thrown in for good measure) who met here in Cyberspace and now travel together to birding festivals. We are unique in this because birders don't usually travel in "packs".

Learning Lemur: (See Science Chimp)

RAPTOR: A Cincinnati-based rehab center for birds of prey (also where I work)

Science Chimp: A term coined by Julie Zickefoose. Meaning anyone who sees something nature-oriented (whether it be scat or bones or the scene of a predator strike) and MUST figure out the circumstances. There is much grunting and "eep-eep-eeping" involved in a full-on Science Chimp display. Someone who is learning the art of Chimping can be called a "Learning Lemur".

"Squeee!": This is a noise you make when something is so cute or perfect, no other word will do.

"What? Lynne has herpes?": What your blogger heard and said during a quiet moment at an owl prowl when someone said that Lynne (Hasty Brook) has groupies.